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Is there any methods of "unyellowing" old beige PC parts?

I have some (really) old PC parts that I would like to repurpose for fun. However the beige plastic on some of them has yellowed due to heat or sun exposure. Is there any way to restore them back to their beige glory?

Can I put keyboards in the dishwasher?

After a few years, keyboards develop a fine patina of what I refer to as "hand jam". I've heard that they can be safely cleaned in the dishwasher as long as you let them thoroughly dry out (like for a week or two). Maybe not the fancy ones with the LCD displays and what not, but the basic keyboard, yes.

Has anyone tried this?

What's the best way to get ants out of laptop keyboards?

What's the best way to gets ants out of a laptop?

What is the best way to clean an LCD monitor?

I have loads of grubby finger marks on my monitor (mine and smaller people's). I'm not sure how to clean them off without damaging the monitor.

What's the best way to safely clean dust, smudges and fingerprints off an LCD?

Do I risk destroying the fan if I use a vacuum cleaner on my laptop?

To get rid of dust that had gathered near the fan, I put a vacuum cleaner to the air intake (with the computer turned off).

This removed the dust.

It also caused the fan to rotate at a fairly high speed. Quite faster than normal speed, judging from the sound.

Do I risk destroying stuff by doing this?

How does dust affect a computer?

It is generally known that dust makes computers slower, and that cleaning out the dust regularly can make your computer run better.

What I have not seen, is why this happens. From what I know dust doesn't stop electrons from getting from one side of the computer to the other. Does the dust only clog up the fans, making the computer hotter, thus making the computer slower? Or is there some other more mysterious force at work here?

Can I use vodka to clean my keyboard?

I spilled beer on my keyboard a while back, and some of the keys are sticky.

It's driving me crazy, and I don't have any isopropyl. Can I use vodka to clean it?

I washed my USB drive. Any long-term risks?

I accidentally left a USB flash drive in my clothes, which was then washed with my laundry. This was a colored load, hot water.

The drive survived just fine and was very clean. All data was still there, and I see no physical damage.

Am I risking any long-term data loss/drive damage due to this washing affair, or is there no additional risk now that I see the drive has not suffered any initial damage?

Suck or blow? What's better for dust?

The guy at the local PC hardware store told me it's better to use a small hand-held leaf blower to blow dust out of your PC case than a hand-held vacuum cleaner. Why is this? I understand that fans might be damaged if they "spin too fast", but surely this is a problem with both vacuuming and blowing dust away... I imagine both machines would generate a small amount of static to be discharged carefully, so I can't see how one would be "safer" than the other?

Dusting Laptop keyboard

Is there a way to temporarily disable a laptop's keyboard in order to clean/dust it off, other than having to turn off the computer?

How often should I dust the inside of my computer?

I would like to avoid frying my computer. I understand dust collects inside on the boards and the CPU cooling unit. How often should I open up the chassis and what process should I use to safely remove the dust?

How to find and remove "spicy" media files from my PC [closed]

I have an embarrassing problem: during my younger and wilder days, I used to download a certain type of movie clips and pictures. The combination of youthful foolishness and a couple of beers apparently caused me to put these files in odd places on my hard drives.

My girlfriend is moving in with me in a few weeks, and I am horrified at the prospect of her stumbling onto one of those files. I have been over my drives a few times, but I manage to find another of those dammed files each time. I have huge drives containing hundreds of thousands of files, most of them legitimate and work related, so I can't just format the PC. To complicate matters even more, some of the offending files are named in misleading ways.

I seriously need help here. How can I make my PC honest again?

Removing dead thunderflies stuck inside an LCD monitor

This summer my flat was "attacked" by hundreds of tiny thunderflies, some of which managed to get behind the screen of my LCD. A few of the cursed creatures went and died right in the middle of the display: 

And yes, this is real. Imagine my surprise when I saw one of these things crawling across the monitor, tried to swat the thing and realized it was inside!  

How do I go about removing them?

I have tried tapping the screen and shaking it but to no avail. They are very annoying to look at because they look like groups of dead pixels, or even (.) characters. 

Greasy water in laptop's DIMM slot

My wife was having dinner in front of (on top of) the laptop and she spilled some soup onto it, right above the touchpad. Almost all of the soup ended up in the upper DIMM slot which sits underneath the keyboard.

I took the laptop apart and I've managed to clean and dry everything other than the internals of the DIMM slot. The slot has a dense, comb-like structure of pins which holds the greasy water in, and I cannot disassemble the DIMM slot in order to clean it thoroughly.

When I turn on the laptop it detects all available RAM and it works normally for about 15-20 minutes, after which it turns off. When I try to turn it on again it emits 1-3-3-1 beeps which means "Bad DIMM or DIMM slot". If I then take out DIMM chips, wipe them and clean the slot with a toothbrush it works again for a short time. I suspect that when the laptop heats up the grease in the DIMM slot melts a bit and short-circuits some pins inside.

I was wondering would it work if I used WD-40 with a straw to fill the DIMM slot, and then dry it with paper towels and a fan? The WD-40 should dissolve the grease and it dries faster than water, I'm just not sure whether after drying it leaves any conductive residues which would cause a short circuit inside the slot. Or is there something else I can try? Any thoughts and ideas are appreciated.

Cleaning computer cables In the dishwasher

A large quantity of assorted computer cables came into my possession. The collection includes almost every type of computer-related cable (video, USB, Ethernet, printer, audio and speaker, SATA, power, etc.). I'm focused here on just passive cables, nothing with active electronics or things like power bricks. They became dirty in storage and need to be cleaned.

Most of us have probably heard about washing a keyboard in the dishwasher, and now I am wondering if the same method can be applied to dirty cables. My assumption is that because the older PS2 keyboards used in these dishwashing experiments have their own cables attached, what could be the difference?

Some of the possible concerns I can envision with using a dishwasher to clean them:

• Cable construction could be different from a keyboard cable and the materials and fastenings might not hold up to dishwasher cleaning.
• Dishwasher water temperature might be too hot for the materials used in some kinds of cables.
• Immersing some kinds of cables in water might be bad for them, so some might be cleanable in a dishwasher and some not.

My assumption is that if all kinds of cables cannot be safely cleaned in this way, cables fall into just a few broad categories that drive what would be dishwasher-safe.

Questions:

1. Dishwashability

   What characteristics (for example, type of construction or type of use), would differentiate computer-related cables that should not be cleaned in a dishwasher, and why?

2. Scope of risk

   If a computer cable is put through the dishwasher and is adversely affected in a way that isn't externally visible (so it would be used rather than discarded), would it be only the cable that was affected? Or, is there any kind of computer cable where the kinds of adverse effects that could come from cleaning in a dishwasher could damage the equipment it's plugged into?